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[hungryhounduk]

Hi All
Here is a Tutorial for an Updated Version of my Button Express Program. Again this is a Very
Easy Program to make/Code but is very effective never the less.

Just to let you all Know that there are over 100 usable Buttons within this Program

Just like to Give a Big Thanks to CodenStuff for his Help on this Program (Cheers ;) )

Right Lets get Crackin!
On the Form you will need

10 Buttons
8 Comboboxes ( or you can use 1 Combobox)
1 Panel
2 Labels
2 Groupboxes
1 Timer = ENABLE in the Timer Properties
1 ColorDialog
1 FontDialog
1 OpenfileDialog
1 SavefileDialog





As you can see by the 2nd Screenshot Above I have used 8 Comboboxes to link
to my Images ( as i have a few).
But You can put all your Button Pictures Linking to Just 1 Combobox, But it all depends on how

many Images you want to use and how you want it to look, I did have 1 Combobox in the

beginning but as i have added about 100 Images I think it looks better this way ( but thats

just me being picky )

All the Images you want to use in this program go in the Resources (Images) Section, Just

drag and drop or paste them in.

The Panel that the Images appear in is Panel1, set the BackgroundImageLayout in the Panel1

Properties to ZOOM.

And the Text that you type in the Textbox appears in Label1, which sits on top of the Panel,

Set the Text Alignment to MIDDLE in the Properties and Make the Label1 TRANSPARENT. Also

set the Label1 to AUTOSIZE = FALSE in the Properties.

You add all your Button Image Names in the Combobox collections Tab in the Properties

This is quite time consuming but its worth it in the end. ( just make a list of what you have

called your buttons ie: red round and so on ) I have used .Png Images which i created in

photoshop and they all have transparent backgrounds as I am trying to get it to work so that

they can be saved as .Png with the Transparency so that they then can go on any Webpage

or Color and i dont have to fiddle about making the Backgrounds Transparent again. But at the

moment They dont have transparency so the Background will take the color of your Forms Color.

So if you have your Form back Color as white then it will save the Button with a white background.

I was up allnight last night trying to get it too work with a second Panel and i tried a picturebox and a Label that sat on the back on the form, But alas whatever i tried did not get the effect i am after. One thing i did try which half worked was a Label set to a Second colourdialog which changed the background to any color by using the color swatches, But the Label that recieves the Text was still showing color, Even tho it has a transparent background (Strange :roll: ) When i crack it i will let you all know

The Combobox coding for the Images is this Example and you just repeat it for each Image

Code: Select all

If ComboBox1.SelectedItem = "Name of your Button" Then
            Panel1.Visible = True
            Panel1.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Your Button Name
        End If

This little bit of code below goes on the Open Buttons BUTTON

Code: Select all

Me.Height=559

And this little bit of Code below goes on the Close Buttons BUTTON

Code: Select all

Me.Height=294

In your Form Properties Section Once you have made this Program SET the Form HEIGHT to 294, If you have done as i have done then the Button Combobox Controls will be Hidden, And when you run and Press the Open Buttons BUTTON the Combobox's will appear as SET by The Open Buttons CODE ( of course you can change the look of this Program to suit your needs )

The rest of the Code

Code: Select all

   Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        Label1.Text = TextBox1.Text
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button4_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button4.Click
        FontDialog1.ShowDialog()
        Label1.Font = FontDialog1.Font
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        Label1.TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button5_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button5.Click
        ColorDialog1.ShowDialog()
        Label1.ForeColor = ColorDialog1.Color
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

    End Sub

    Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        Label1.TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleRight
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button7_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button7.Click
        Dim savefiledialog1 As New SaveFileDialog
        savefiledialog1.Title = "Save File"
        savefiledialog1.FileName = "*.png"
        savefiledialog1.Filter = "PNG |*.png"
        If savefiledialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
            Dim bmp As New Drawing.Bitmap(Panel1.Width, Panel1.Height)
            Panel1.DrawToBitmap(bmp, New Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height))
            bmp.Save(savefiledialog1.FileName, Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button6_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button6.Click
        Panel1.BackColor = Color.Transparent
    End Sub
   
    Private Sub Button1_Click_1(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Label1.TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button10_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button10.Click
        Dim openfiledialog1 As New OpenFileDialog
        If openfiledialog1.ShowDialog() = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
            Panel1.BackgroundImage = Image.FromFile(openfiledialog1.FileName)
        End If
    End Sub

If you have any problems then please send me a Message and i will talk you through it

Chris

[CodemaN]

thankssssssss man!!!!!!

[bjm0008]

Hungry Hound, when you use the code:

Code: Select all

Dim ofd As New OpenFileDialog

Your basically telling VB that "OFD"( or whatever you might have ) = OpenFileDialog1
So you don't need to put in the openfiledialog onto the design.
(Same with any dialog you may have)
- Hope this helps you save time in the future :P

[Normall]

Can you save ? the button

[Normall]

You should add a thing where they can get a picture online
that would make it better

[Normall]

Woops I mean a picture of a button not picture

[hungryhounduk]

Hi
Yes you can save your Button, if you look at the tutorial and the code you will see that is all there. This is just a tutorial to show you how to do things like this, If you want to add extra functions and improve it then thats great news, and please post up a picture of the app when you have reworked it..

[Usman55]

Hello Everyone!
I have to admit that: T
Button Express thing rocks...
Code'N'Stuff's website rocks...
HungryHounduk really rocks...
Thanks!

[Nery]

And Nery Rocks too!
Cheers ;)

[Alex]

Hungry Hound, when you use the code:

Code: Select all

Dim ofd As New OpenFileDialog

Your basically telling VB that "OFD"( or whatever you might have ) = OpenFileDialog1
So you don't need to put in the openfiledialog onto the design.
(Same with any dialog you may have)
- Hope this helps you save time in the future :P

Or, you can use the code

Code: Select all

Public Class Form1
Public WithEvents OpenFileDialog1 As New OpenFileDialog
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
'insert code
End Sub
End Class

This sets OpenFileDialog1 as an object(OpenFileDialog) allowing it to be used in the selector that you can add events and code the events.